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6 Ways To Avoid Blogging Burnout And Keep On Blogging

Blogging and being a blogger takes time. If you’re a regular blogger, there may come a time when you might feel burnt out from blogging.

Blogging burnout often means feeling tired of blogging. It could mean feeling uninspired to blog or drained from engaging with the blogging community. Maybe blogging less and less.

You wonder where something will take you. The Killers, Melbourne 2018.

This month marks six years since I put up my first post on this blog. Blogging burnout is something I admittedly feel. The longer I blog about all things multiculturalism and culture here, the more I feel it. There are days where I don’t want to blog, let alone write anything.

To be really honest, there are many days where sitting down and writing a blog post feels like a chore. Not to mention days where I’ve seriously thought about calling it a day on this blog.

Many everyday bloggers like you and me might feel blogger burnout because we get tired from monotonously churning out repetitive content. Or find it hard to keep up with fellow bloggers and reading every post they publish. Or don’t see the point of blogging anymore. The list goes on.

If you recognise blogging burnout and are determined to get back on track with blogging, blogging burnout can be a phase. Or it could be at the very least a phase until we next feel stuck on blogging.

Why you do what you do.

How To Avoid Blogging Burnout

1. Ask yourself why you started blogging

As a blogger, you started blogging for a reason or a number of reasons. Over time the more you blog, the more you may adventurously explore different themes on your blog and perhaps lose sight of what motivated you to blog in the first place. Perhaps the more you blog, life behind-the-blogging-scenes goes on and our priorities on both the life and blog front change.

So brainstorm, ask yourself: why did you start a blog in the first place? What do you blog now? Knowing the reasons behind your blog can make you feel a sense of purpose behind it.

Every now and then I look at my ‘Why I Blog’ page, reminding myself of the reasons for keeping up this blog. Compared to 2012 when I first started, I still blog today because I love writing and this is a space where I can freely share my thoughts on culture and a space where others can share theirs too. The reasons on why I blog are simple but reasons that help me see the bigger picture of being a blogger.

I also initially started the blog to improve on my academic writing. Over the years I’ve published my academic-driven essays on the blog and in academic journals – achievements unlocked. But over the years I felt more comfortable writing in more colloquial language and it’s become the writing style on this blog these days. As the outlook of your blog changes, you could revamp your blog’s voice, theme or categorise posts differently to give it a new look and feel that resonates with where you’re at in life.

Get up, get organised.

2. Get organised

When you make time for your blog, you choose to make it a part of your life. Make time for blogging, chances are you’ll feel less overwhelmed, unsure and intimidated with it. There’s a lot involved with blogging, such as putting together posts, visiting and commenting on other blogs and sharing your posts and other blogs across social media. So setting a blogging routine or schedule can help you juggle all (or some) of this and blog regularly – and once again give you a sense of purpose behind it.

At one point, I spent three to four hours at night responding to comments and checking out blogs – and that was after a full day of work. I honestly enjoy long blogging nights but then each night I would go to bed with bloodshot-Chucky-looking eyes.

Time limits help me manage blogging: one hour a day commenting and reading blogs, three to four hours a week researching a topic I’m going to blog about, a few nights one week drafting a post, a day to collate and post-process blog photos and one night once a month sharing fellow blogger’s post on social media. In between blogging, I get to live life and of course, get cozy sleep.

3. Blog less

Sometimes taking a break from blogging is what you need to feel inspired at it again. We all need to live and experience life in order to tell stories. A sabbatical of a month or even just a week could be what you need to recharge and come up with blog ideas again – and it’s not like the internet, your blog and the millions of other blogs will disappear overnight. Unless there’s a zombie apocalypse headed your way, you can always jump back into blogging when you feel ready to return.

Six years ago I blogged once a week. Then realising I wanted more time to research my posts, it was a post per fortnight. Then once every three weeks. Now once a month. And as much as I want to read every blog post of every blogger I follow, I’ve stopped doing that so as to manage my time. When I write my posts and comment on each blog, quality over quantity is what’s on my mind, more honest engagements because everyone deserves some attention.

In addition, having guests post on your blog is one way to blog less. It’s a good way to outsource and delegate blog content, while showcasing the work of other dedicated artists.

There’s usually more than one person behind the show.

4. Content variety

If you find yourself tired of blogging about what you blog, perhaps challenge yourself by blogging about what you’ve never blogged about before. Or you could revisit older posts and blog about these posts from a different perspective. Blogging about unfamiliar topics is way to stretch your blog content while making blogging feel less mundane.

Tailoring your content to a specific audience could also make you more driven as a blogger. Blogging for an (changing) audience, there’s a need to persistently think outside of the box to learn what makes them tick and engage with your posts – could be as hard as cracking the code to a dead-shut safety deposit box holding one million dollars in cold hard cash.

The same can be said if we want to blog for SEO and increase our blog traffic: learn to blog with essential keywords, snappy post titles, paragraphed text and more.

Moving forward, I’m toying with the idea of switching up my blogging approach by blogging less anecdotally and more analytically over the next year. While it has been fun writing about parts of my life on here, writing about non-fiction is what I prefer writing about.

Being a show pony can only get you so far.

5. Tell yourself blogging is not a competition

It’s easy to compare your blog with other blogs and bloggers. You can compare blog views, Likes and comments and why some blogs and certain blog topics seem more popular than others. When you compare, you might question your place in the blogging community, question if it’s worth blogging and even doubt your reasons for blogging.

Unless you are aiming to be a social media influencer or make a living off your blog, there’s no need to compete and outdo other blogs. There’s only so much satisfaction that comes from triumphing in the popularity stakes for a night, for a moment.

Admittedly up until a couple of years ago I kept an eye on my blog views. After all, blog views means blog reach, and reach means chances are your blog and work is connecting with others. But at the end of the day, blog views don’t necessarily translate to blog engagement and thoughtful comments. When my post Understanding the Asian-Girl Relationship went viral, a few hundred voices chimed in in the comments section. But when the post How I Came To See ‘Whiteness’ As Just Ordinarily Beautiful went viral, not as many chimed in.

In general, blogs that have a quite a reach are usually more personable and relatable. For instance, commercial blogs Lifehacker, Gizmodo and Mashable feature posts predominantly about everyday technology, style, dining, relationships and tips to get through life, and are read by millions each month. On the more modest end of blogging spectrum, authors such as Jeff Goins and Stephanie Klein made their mark as authors through hardwork in blogging and blogging about their everyday lives – sharing personal challenges, conversations with friends and parenting ups and downs.

As an introvert, sharing my personal life online isn’t something I’m comfortable with and I do draw a firm line between what I share and don’t share on my blog. Unlike many high-profile social media influencers, shunning the trends of showing my face, talking about where I work, talking about my personal relationships and broadcasting where I’m going each day is something I am not ashamed of.

When you blog about what you’re comfortable with and what you believe in, that’s blogging aligning with your values – honest blogging, and honesty goes a long way when making a connection.

We’re comfortable with what we’re comfortable with.

6. Talk to others who don’t blog

Others who don’t blog can have a different and refreshing view on blogging. For one, they can offer you a different or even brutally honest perspective on your blog, giving you a reality check about your feelings towards blogging. As blogging is generally seen as a casual hobby, those around you could try to convince you to give it up.

Very few of my friends and family in real life are bloggers, and very few read my blog. The latter doesn’t discourage me as I’ve never felt the need to show off my blog or my writing. Those of my friends who read my blog think it’s cool and are amused at how much time I put into it. Whenever I lament how I’m so done with blogging, they reiterate my blog – in their words – is ‘cool and famous’ and I’m a quirky bean 🙂

* * *

Even after trying all these ways to feel more motivated about blogging, I still found myself in a blogging rut this year. Maybe sometimes when you don’t feel like doing something, you just don’t anymore. It’s like falling out of love with something or growing apart from friends as you all grow up. That said, I do feel my writing (and blogging content) is the strongest it has ever been; the more I still blog, the more I am still writing and getting better at it. Moreover, at the end of the day I really do express myself best with words.

Experiencing blogging burnout, you might feel a failure at being a blogger. But there are no boundaries to blogging, and we’re all free to come and go blogging. Notably, some have argued the average lifespan of a blog within the world of social media is two years (bloggers might stop blogging after one or two years). As blogs are taking on different formats, a study titled Lifetime Value of a Blog Post found by day 700 since being published, a blog post would have receives 99% of its impressions (times change, information becomes out of date and/or losses its appeal).

There’s something we’ll always enjoy.

It’s then worth asking is blogging still relevant these days? Should you stop blogging when you don’t feel like blogging? Often blog credibility and reliability as information sources are questioned given many opinions on blogs are subjective and aren’t always fact-checked – so if you continue blogging, will you be taken seriously? Ultimately whether you continue blogging likely depends on what you want to achieve with your blog and if you can sustain your blogging motivation against these odds.

Sometimes doing something you don’t want to do is a means to an end. For me, blogging is a means to an end on the passion side: it’s a nice little writing portfolio proving I can write. It keeps me writing and keeps alive my determination of putting my own book out there. It’s a collection of lovely different people from around the world voicing their thoughts, learning from each other.

Come tomorrow, let’s see where we’ll go.

On a side note, while half of my blog is dedicated to writing about what goes on in Australia, most of my readers come from the States with a handful from Australia. This is not surprising as social analytics platform Sysmos found (through online aggregation) 29.2% of bloggers are located in the States while 2.22% in Australia. The blogging atmosphere in Australia is seemingly on the small and reserved side. Not that maintaining a high viewership in Australia is aim of my blog. Not that I expect anyone to read my blog. Bloggers and readers come and go, just like how people come and go in our lives and the ones who stick around are the special ones. But it’s an interesting statistic to note.

Where to from here with my blog is interesting. Freelance work has been trickling in. Writing my first book (and another) is well underway. There’s people to look out for. Chores to do. Dishes I want to make in the kitchen. Other hobbies I want to pursue like finding the keys to Kashyyyk. So where to indeed with this blog, we will see.

Well, I’m a professional blogging “burnee”, I think you know that, ha ha haaaa!!! I actually have lots of things I want to write about, but when it comes to writing them down, I often feel the burnout because I often feel that I am pressuring myself. That’s the hardest part: my worst enemy is myself.

I especially feel that when I try to do writing challenges. I start off good then dwindle when I get stuck. Taking the A to Z Challenge is a very good example. When I get stuck with a letter, I start feeling doomed. It’s not that I don’t try. Plus, there really are various stuff that I have to take care of off-blogging, a lot of it has to to do with writing as well.

When I feel the burnout, I stop, however regretful I feel. Pressuring myself just makes things worse anyway and I still end up writing nothing. I pursue other things, just like you do. I go back now and then to playing Soda Crush. I engage more on Facebook, sometimes Twitter. I read online articles. I answer Quora questions…

Right now, I have actually started vlogging. I’m putting myself more out there. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time but couldn’t due to lack of resources and out of insecurity. I’m not going to show very personal stuff anyway. I just want to do fun things, that’s it. And I want my viewers to get something out of every video I post. While I’m doing it to share, I don’t stress myself over the statistics. Of course, they matter a bit because the whole point of vlogging is to present something and hopefully have an audience. So I do check and I do try to promote somehow. I do know that chances are I won’t get that many views anyway and I know why (incidentally, I am editing a post called “6 Reasons a Vlogger is Not Popular”). Still, I don’t beat myself up over the statistics. I just want to do what I love.

Stressing ourselves out takes the fun out of blogging, or out of any hobby for that matter. So the bottomline is we should learn how to chill. It’s hard, but it’s a must.

‘My worst enemy is myself’. I think you summed it up for many of us bloggers here when it comes to blogging. If we want or don’t want to blog, it comes down on us and our choice.

Challenges can be a way to get to keep you blogging. But as you said, you can get stuck – some challenges do get repetitive or some things in life just demand our attention and we don’t have the energy to get creatively inspired.

Lol, I think you take breaks for blogging more than me. I’m just about sitting back from blogging at the moment…and you know, I am loving it. More time for things offline but I do miss the sense of purpose and fulfillment I get not just from writing blog posts but engaging with everyone on here.

Vlogging sounds like something different for you! My hat is off to you vlogging as it’s something I tried very briefly in the past and then decided it was not for me. Statistics and views aren’t everything. If you make or do something you have fun doing, you will always remember how much fun you have no matter how many people are watching you. Those moments can be priceless for some of us.

Oh yes, relaxation and chilling is hard. Especially if you are the anxious kind and always have a million things running through your mind XD

I find that I like vlogging even though the editing time takes longer. In fact, this one I am editing right now is taking forever ’cause sometimes, I just get lazy. But the amount of vids to edit are already enough for now. I don’t even need to actually record anything new unless I feel there is a need for it.

All very good points, Mabel. Six years of blogging… that’s quite an achievement, well done!

I’ve been blogging on and off for about 14 years – not all on the same blog, in fact I think the longest I’ve ever had a blog was 3 or 4 years. I am well-known amongst my friends (some online, some off) for deleting blogs when I get tired of them or when I’ve reached burn-out. I don’t think that will happen with my current one, or certainly not for a long time, as I’m keeping it fairly well on track. But I am hoping to have a second blog soon that will have looser content: I need this badly as, sometimes, much as I love my subject, I can get quite frustrated with its limitations for posts. Like everyone else, I’ve other interests, other needs of expression.

But to answer your question, how do I avoid burn-out… mostly I try to space out my posts, if possibly scheduling them about 10 days apart (though recently I cancelled one that was scheduled and posted it live earlier than intended, then forgot to reschedule the next one for a different date, so both appeared within days of each other which really wore me out!) 10 day intervals give me time to reply to comments for a few days, read other people’s posts (like yourself, I no longer read them all every day, otherwise they just eat into one’s life) and then spend the rest of the time getting on with my non-blogging life. I’m spending much less time blogging and in other people’s blogs, which stops my mind from being over-saturated with external input.

The experience of a blog changing as the years go by, is common. What also happens is that readers’ responses can change the orientation of one’s posts – and that’s something I have to guard against, not just for the sake of the blog’s survival, but my own.

14 years of blogging across different blogs. Wow, what an achievement for you, Val. My hat is off to you. You must find much joy and purpose in blogging. Having different blogs over the years sort of follows where you are at in life. Like you, I’ve had a few blogs before this one and whenever I felt I outgrown them, I closed them. Good luck with your second blog. Sometimes we have different interests and need different platforms and blogs to express them, giving their own spotlight to shine and audience so to speak.

Sounds like you got a blogging schedule for you. 10 days apart for each blog post does require some planning, and it’s good that you stick to it and don’t feel stretched too thin as a blogger (apart from recently when you published two posts days apart!). You are so right in saying that reading posts all day, every day, it eats into one’s life. You read one post, and you read it again because you don’t get some parts, or you read another post and find want to read another…it does take up a lot of time.

Interesting to hear you say some readers’ change the orientation of one’s post. Readers might not agree with you, and you might have to just accept the both of you disagree, and agree to disagree.

Hi Mabel! Congrats! You are much needed – so I hope you will not leave your blog, but stay with us! Discussions about life is so important, and your voice is strong and clear. ♥

And, as usual you have created an interesting post – which this time really hit my heart where it is right now. Burn-out. There are times when I feel so unengaged that I would like to stop blogging on the spot. Usually I take minor breaks when I am traveling though. Minor breaks work for me.

I started 7 years ago, and my original thoughts were to write essays and poems. Being always correcting students does not leave much space to express your own thoughts. But, as you go along…”some readers’ change the orientation of one’s post.” I started out in my native language, Swedish, but soon found I had to write in English as well. When that felt tiresome, I decided to write only in English. There are not many bloggers in Sweden, and those who blog all understand English.

Then, what you write, Mabel, and how thoroughly you have prepared your posts, makes the discussion valuable and rich in variety. In my blogging I have found that some people don’t even bother to read what I have to say, but only look at the pictures. I understand that from some comments I get. That makes me a bit sad, but confirms what scientific research has found: We don’t read much anymore – almost everything depends on the illustrations…Which leads to more pictures and less thoughts. My blog has steered that way. But, is that what I really want? But my photography gets an outlet there.

Your concept is valuable, Mable. Mine is not – should I really continue? A change is needed. The question is how. I was asked to hop on the train with two other bloggers to keep up the WPC – I jumped in on that, and now we are four. I rather like it, and the co-work is just to my taste. Maybe I will continue only that part of the blog?

I am sorry to hear that you are burnt-out with blogging, Ann Christine. Would never have guessed that because you blog with so much vigour and enthusiasm most days of the week, be it your photos or anecdotes of your travels. It is good to hear you take minor breaks and travel – travel and experience and leave the blog for a moment (and I hear you travel quite a bit with Vivi who is always so nice in the blog world).

Seven years is a long time to blog, and my hat is off to you for blogging consistently for so long. You are very kind with your words on my blog. Thank you so much and I am humbled. I also get people who don’t read my post and I get the comments ‘Nice photos’. To be honest, at one point I considered turning my blogging towards a photography blog, maybe even setting up another one. After a lot of thought I decided to stick to writing. I don’t expect everyone to read my long posts from start to finish, and even if people just read a paragraph or one point and engage with that, that is fine with me. But as you said, some people don’t read at all (this is obvious in many professional work places…) and that’s disappointing. For now I will continue blogging…that said, I took a break from blogging recently. Wasn’t planned but I felt like I needed it.

I got to know your blog first for your reflections and then realised you had nice photos that go with the words 🙂 It is lovely to hear you are hosting the WPC now with four others. So lovely to hear it is kept going. Your blog is unique – as you said, you are from Sweden and you don’t see many blogs from Sweden here. Your insight and reflections are deep and levelheaded – and your love for your animals and furry friends is such a delight to see 🙂

I enjoyed this as a read more than your usual posts, Mabel, maybe because I sympathised with many of the viewpoints. I don’t have your reporter’s interest in facts, stats and analysis. Very few of my friends and family read my blog and I often think it is a pure indulgence. But it hurts no-one. I have had intervals without Internet and these have been both a trial and a relief. I’m sure you know what I mean. Right now it’s great to be able to pick up the laptop and chat to the world, but they can certainly be in an intrusion. It’s all about balance and how much you want to do something, isn’t it? I’m certain you have that in your life. Whatever happens it has been a privilege to follow you. 🙂 🙂

It is true. Whether or not someone reads your blog hurts no one. But sometimes you do feel it’s nice if they read and show you some support. I so agree that sometimes the online world can be an intrusion to our peace. It can addictive coming online as there is so much to learn and browse. Likewise, it has been a privilege to follow you, Jo. You do so much walking and I love following along hardly being able to keep up 🙂

– Wow! Mabel, I came over to drop in and catch up on your writing recently, and, serendipitously, your post here on blogging burnout (in October) was exactly what was going on with me. Thank you, as always, for a lovely and thoughtful exploration of your topic.

“…the more you may … perhaps lose sight of what motivated you to blog in the first place.” – Yes, this was true for me. I started posting little flash fictions every day, five years ago, as a startup or warmup exercise to motivate my non-blog writing. It helped me feel connected to a community and I have made some really anchoring blog-friendships in that time. I feel lucky! But then I shifted to including more content about my writing process, and then I think I got the idea that I “had to” write certain things for the blog and my energy began to wane. This is a really good thought process to explore – thank you!

Just now, following nanowrimo, I’m experimenting with coming back to blogging, but less frequently, maybe once a week or even less, depending on how things go. I’m trying an experiment from the suggestion of a friend to include both writing process and excerpts of my writing. Now that I’m turning to novels more than short stories, the opportunity to “lift the curtain” on the writing process seems exciting to me. We’ll see if it lasts, but for now I’m glad to have your and your writing as a resource for inspiration and community-building. Thank you! 🙂 Take good care, Mabel!

So lovely to hear this blogging post helped you look at your writing and blogging, Theresa. And thank you so much for your kind words again. It is interesting to read how your writing and thought process has evolved over the years. Writing little flash fictions everyday five years ago for you is quite an achievement, and those blog-friendships are always one to cherish. It’s something when you connect over something you are passionate about and be able to share your enthusiasm freely towards it. I’ve always enjoyed reading your thoughts about your writing process, what works and what doesn’t work for you.

Hope you find your blogging groove for the year ahead. Evolving and switching things up is usually what makes what we do interesting. I feel we don’t necessarily have to evolve our style and voice, but adapt to the trends and/or what piques our interest – turning all of that into new content. Including both the writing process and excerpts of your writing sounds like a fresh way to process. However you choose to move ahead, I look forward to following along 🙂

I’ve been thinking of scaling back to maybe one post every 5 or six weeks now. We’ll see how next year pans out. Thank you so much for your kind words again. I learn so much from you and your writing processes 🙂

Oh! I like that idea, Mabel! You’re working on a book project, too, is that right? I think that’s a great idea to keep connected but reduce the time on the blog. I’m noticing that is helping me as I experiment with a weekly post this month! 🙂 You have so much to share w the world!

Well, well Mabel, just completed 5 years and you have stepped out of the 6th year, great feelings…every thought of yours resonates so well with me. I can connect every word, there is emotions and every bit of rich experience that you have so beautifully crafted in this brilliant piece of post. Yes, we all start with something with a broad idea in mind, this true fro most of us. Blogging is so much about the experience and the journey. There is an interesting and different learning curve, so unique in its manifestation and it is perhaps only with this fascinating medium of blogging as a platform. And every milestone we reach in terms of years to number of posts to number of subscribers to number of likes and comments, and the list goes on and we derive a sense of accomplishment, and many of those accomplishment may appear dwarfed compared to many other veteran bloggers but for us in our little journey we derive the nuanced pleasure of life. And it is so much in the journey and not the destination that we want to reach.

Blogging is a fascinating world of magical discovery and exploration, we need to keep going and we have something new coming our way. Just that there is a hidden paradox. Though it is assumed to be a hobby but it is serious work if we want to cherish that hobby of ours, we need to nurture it with care and compassion. And it is the passion that makes the blogging go the distance and when it blends well with the purpose of life we have then hit the sweet spot. Blogging is so much about writing and if we enjoy writing, there is no better way to give our writing the refinement and finesse that it gains with the practice of writing. It is an art and this art grows with time and more of work and with dedication that we serve the art, it flourishes and flowers with vibrant color and brightness.

But natural with time everything changes, blogging is no exception and we need to align with the changing world and the ability to embrace and adapt such changes lies in the way we gear ourselves. Taking a break, building a new perspective, connecting with a new thought, initiating a new project, recasting the space with a brand new outlook, and the list of things that we can do with the power of technology that is within our instant reach is mind blogging, just that we need to keep revisiting and recharging our thoughts.

Indeed it is not a competition and this is not a battleground where we have frantically fight with others or compare with the numbers and start getting jittery and many times becoming envious. We need to stop. Start afresh our journey…these thoughts needs to be negated and a space to give to the passion and purpose of your blogging. It is as much a writing, it is so much about reading, and blogging matures with reading, reading others blog and reading book and reading as much possible and what ever you can digest, and that shows up so well on your blog posts over a period of time. All that needs is time and more time. And the irony we are all trapped as time deprive soul of this fast paced world we are living.

Blogging is so much a part of our life if we love it and then we cannot leave it; the question burn out needs to be accepted as natural and naturally we need to work our way in our own style, and we learn this as we go through our journey of blogging and every journey in this space is special and there is story we all have to tell…every story counts.

Always a pleasure Mabel to be here, sorry for such a long gap, just that I couldn’t dedicate quality time in reading and it is quality that I always love over quality.
Have a lovely weekend. Hope you are doing fine.
Take Care!!!
😀

Congrats on five years of blogging, Nihar. An amazing fear. You said it, ‘Blogging is so much about the experience and the journey’. And you also hit the nail on the head when you alluded to the fact that blogging is not about achieving one thing, but learning from different bloggers and taking away something about the feedback we get from other bloggers. Blogging is really a fascinating platform as you don’t know what you’ll get and there is so much diversity here – and it’s a platform where we can participate in all over the world. So it is a world of magical discovery and exploration…of leaning and reflecting, and applying that to your life with different perspectives.

Blogging is indeed serious work. It’s one thing to take ten minutes to type what’s on our mind, and another to take a week or more reflecting on what we want to blog. Our blogging is likely to go the distance if we invest serious time in it, don’t rush and be honest with what we put our there, as well as genuinely take the time to engage with other bloggers and their work. Again you said it: blogging is ‘an art, and this art grows with time’. It takes time to find our blogging groove and our blogging voice, and what sort of posts we want to put out there.

Yes, everything changes, and our blogging habits might change too. Taking a break might once put into perspective why we blog. If we go away, we might figure out if we miss blogging or not or can live without it…if we can live without it, that’s okay. If we can’t, a good reason to come back to blogging with renewed vigour.

Blogging is competition for those of us who seriously want to push a product and make a living off blogging. For the majority of us, this is not the case and we blog out of passion and the desire to share at the everyday level. But as you mentioned, we can feel trapped because we always want more (monkey see, monkey do) and so get lost in trying to compare the numbers and jostle for attention. This creates a toxic environment because at the end of the day, there is so much we can get out of outdoing each other. Time spent competing is often time that could have been spent reflecting and writing a meaningful post.

I agree Mabel nothing is permanent in this world and everything phenomena has a phase and a stage where these things come and showcase their talent, and then move on in their journey of life. A living thing to a non-living thing, everything follow this designed cycle of nature, and when we see at this activity of blogging in the grand scheme of things, it looks so tiny and so much insignificant.

But given the context and the engagement we are having with this wonderful platform called blogging, nothing comes close to this creative and meaningful engagement provided we are able to connect the dots. I cannot think of an creatively and so expansively engagement platform like this. Blogging has provided that fascinating space for the divided community to connect, it has provided the space for the divided people to connect and the like minded people to converse, and humanity is all about connection, collaboration and meaningful conversation. The world is so much an oyster.

Unfortunately we have made this world of ours a place to count our money, grow our wealth, check our material possession, the power, the pride and we are madly trapped in the wrap of envy and agony. The race is on, the rat race (nobody knows where is the cat) and we are all running, and most of us not knowing why at the first place we are there and what for are we running that race. Though we all search for our groove, it comes with time and effort, and we look for our voice to make a difference.

The competition is good when it is healthy and when it brings about best out of the rest. In the cut throat consumerism market, product are sold to meet the target and price, quality and the means are given a ride. If we lift those game plans and apply in this space we are bound to destroy the basic fabric of this creative engagement where the commercial dimension is kept subservient.

Indeed Mabel, if we are honestly and creatively engaged with this platform, then we are immune to such freebies and discounts, we will keep our momentum going. Only we need to keep adding that new flavour or change the combination of spices, and taste and trend set us on course. If we are forced to be part of this platform or have an agenda to make money we need to be clear and the action and the working has a different canvas to paint. The time we need ti invest in this space is immense and not an easy one, and there is a huge cost attached to it. The question is on the trade off, what to take and what to give away in the bargain.

As much writing, so much more reading is needed. As much technology so much more money gets counted, and the equation keeps on building and we need to factor in so many different aspects of our life, living, thinking and working into proper perspective…the blog to grow. I like the trapped mindset (money see, money do), so apt…

Thanks so much Mabel,and as always a pleasure conversing with you and it means so much. Though I have been pretty late coming here and has been long, will try to work it better, no excuse…
😀

That is another great point, that blogging in the grand scheme of things is tiny and insignificant. Maybe that’s true since after all many of us don’t rely on blogging for a living and do it just to pass the time. On the other hand, through blogging consistently we learn to connect and share with others, and better our writing skills and develop skills we might not have thought about – for me would be photography and blog branding.

There is so much power in engagement. Meaningful engagement comes meaningful conversations just like we’ve always had. With that comes connections and these connections we can take us anywhere in the world and apply it to other parts of our lives. Yes, blogging is a place where divided people with likeminded ideas connect – come together over similarities, connect over differences. The world is an oyster, the world is our connections and stories.

‘The race is on, the rat race (nobody knows where is the cat) and we are all running, and most of us not knowing why’ Such a profound statement. Everyone knows the chase but they have no clue what they are chasing. It’s hilarious watching this herd mentality and everyone seems content on following the crowd even though they have no idea where they are going. At the end of the day, achievements only mean so much in the long run and often you will be remembered for how you made others feel and not what you achieved.

Consumerism does have its place in that it opens up a whole new market for a variety of goods to be created and sold, and that helps some of us live the modern comfortable lifetstyle that we want. Healthy competition comes when the art surrounding the product shines – and we can all appreciate that that product is more than just another thing we want and it is a need.

The blogging platform here for most part is free and full of spices, flavours and all nuances in between. Not easy at all to commit to blogging as blogging is not compulsory and usually arises out of a want to pass the time or to share or for some other reasons…keeping at it requires work but when we work at it, there is so much to enjoy about blogging and connecting.

Yes Mabel, the more we discuss on the power of blogging and empowerment that blogging gives to so many of us, we keep wondering how would be the world without such meaningful engagement platform. Where is the alternative way to channelize it out? In a way blogging personifies the power of freedom and how much we all love our space for freedom and also the need for living in the comfort of a much bigger community. We are connected beyond the geographical boundary and we enjoy being in that lavish lap of virtual community.

Look at the irony when we meet face to face and have physical proximity to talk and discuss we don’t get so meaningfully engaged. There is an awkward disconnection. It is only when we write and converse we say so much and we share so many things that otherwise gets locked in our prejudices and assumptions that we all carry with us.

Humanity has a common language that connects and collaborates us all without any such barriers, and that is the language of understanding, the language of caring, the language of appreciation and the language of sharing that matters to all of us. This is exactly what we get created in this wonderful platform. We need couple of virtual vehicles to take us there and as you have designed two wonderful vehicles of photography and multiculturalism. And they are on cruise mode, and you are cherishing those fascinating journey in those vehicles. It is so evident in all your expressions with such profound thoughts. As you so rightly put it blogging platform is free, full of spices and touch of different flavors, and these all aspects so craftily adds ups in creating the personality that blogging has managed to establish.

Blogging stands out and makes a resounding statement in this massively clutter space of cacophony and so often utter confusion. It has given that space to pace out our journey in this virtual space, we start out knowing very little about this platform and its hidden potential, we keep exploring and then suddenly we realize the potential. There is that moment of epiphany and than everything changes. And blogging has indeed changed our life through such meaningful conversation and that we have been having for so long, and it is because we speak the same language.

Mabel, I am always indebted to your wonderful words and the thoughts that you share. Take care and have a lovely weekend. It is happy time, Merry Christmas and loads of gift from the great Santa dropping at your door at the dawn of the day.
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Where we would be without the world of blogging is a wonder. You said it when you say ‘blogging personifies the power of freedom’. With blogging, we are our own writer, own storyteller, our own boss. We don’t need to work for someone in order to blog. We can blog anytime of the day, whenever we like. Blogging connects us in so many ways – brings us together in terms of both our similatiries and differences and in term this engagement we have creates a whole other world of communication all together.

That is a great point, that when we meet face to face we often don’t get meaningfully engaged. It’s funny, and maybe that only works for some of us. As an introvert, I find most of my most meaningful conversations comes from in written form, be it over the times we’ve chatted in the blog world or through random text messages between friends. With communication in writing, we get to think first, slow down and converse at our own leisure. That said, with this kind of communication there is the lack of body language communication.

You are very kind with your words about my blog, Nihar. Thank you kindly. So many of us have combined our different interests and talents in this blog world. Many of us are writers as much as we are photographers and vice-versa. With you I see your blog is a vehicle for your writing and your philosophy, and also your knowledge about the digital real and digital transformation that is all so real and happening so fast today – and all of this turns out into poetic posts and lines from you like this one ‘loads of gift from the great Santa dropping at your door at the dawn of the day’ (though not so sure if this is true lol) 😀

Blogging tends to be seen as something casual to many. But it seems like it is here to stay. Many blogs are in fact web pages and resources which we can all turn to when we want to learn something. Going back to what we said earlier, blogging creates meaningful conversation and sharing – and there is just so much to take away from from this. Always a pleasure, Nihar 😀

Meaningful conversations, indeed Mabel. The significant separation of all the flaps from the flips when we are thinking, writing and communicating unlike the face to face where the other things predominates.The power of written communication has its own nuanced engagement unlike the spoken communication where the body language, the tone, the modulation, the facial expression all come into different play. It so happens many times we miss the interplay and in the act of spoken communication the essential thoughts get largely hijacked by these peripheral characters.Nothing can beat the power of freedom, and blogging lavishly gives us that empowerment.

It is here we can tell our stories the way we want and we can tell it any time we want and we have the stearing in our hand,and we are not at the mercy of someone’s vehicle. We have so much to tell and share but there was no such creatively and meaningfully engaged medium, blogging has evolved and it seems perfectly fitting into that space. With time it will undergo further change and may be we shall see something better but as of now we can safely rely on this wonderful platform to keep our wonders in right perspective. The freedom to express and the joy to converse are intrinsically intertwined in this medium…just not the technology behind the scene but the way it is managed and get manifested.

Always great pleasure Mable having such lovely exchange of thoughts…thank you so much.
Have a wonderful Christmas!!!
Take Care!!!
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‘flaps from the flips when we are thinking…communicating’. Agree with you again. There is just so many perspectives to consider when we are having meaningful conversations. It’s one thing to get in depth about our opinions, and another to engage in another’s opinion. Different means of communication can bring across different messages. Maybe messages through the written word are often more open to interpretation. With face-to-face communication, emotive expressions help convey our true messages – but this can also box us into thinking about one single opinion when there are also many other possibilities.

I think telling stories here in the blog world is easier than face-to-face because there is no one to judge us in an instant. Sure, we might get a blog comment disagreeing with us but that is a time when we can slow down and reflect, respect what others have to say. Blogging will most certainly continue to evolve like is has…blogs are now places for words as much as it is for photos and videos, and you wonder what’s next – maybe reaching out through the screen and traveling to your part of the world 😀

Well, well, Mabel lets hope that we are really connected through the virtual window and we are able to knock each other’s door and visit the places. It may sound quite exotic and little crazy, as said these new innovations are already on their way and just a matter of time. Lets hope for the best that can make the virtual conversations much more exciting.

Indeed so many different perspectives that come up during these stream of discussions we keep having and there are views and there are opinions…yes the emotions gets hidden when we are engaging in written communication and emojis are trying to bridge a part of that big gap that is existing in this form of conversation as against the face to face talk.

Disagreement and differing viewpoint is such an important aspect of this meaningful conversation only that there is art and there is a way to say it. And it is this different perspective that adds new dimensions to the topic and make the discussion get much more broaden in its space of thinking…

Such a pleasure having such wonderful exchange of thoughts. Thank you so much Mabel.

Hope all set for a grand welcome to 2019. Wishing you great success, perfect peace and loads of happiness!!!
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Maybe one day this world will evolve and we can all teleport to different parts of the world.

Many perspectives is always good. And trying to communicate with each other be it face-to-face or through emojis is also a good thing. That can lead to conversations and connections, and who knows where that can go. Disagreement is indeed important as that’s where we learn – and disagreements means difference and that makes the world all the more interesting.

Indeed Mabel it seems we will have a different world as we go ahead into the next decade…things are changing so rapidly, we all hope for the good things to come.

The last few days of the year, good time to reflect back, it was such a wonderful year in this space, and thank you so much Mabel for being in such meaningful conversation. I cherish this valued conversation ours…
Take Care!!!
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts here Mabel and congratulations with six years of blogging! For me, blogging is a creative outlet for my photography and poetry and it gives me a routine and time to be creative. I post four days per week on my main (whippet) blog and two to three days per week on my nature blog. I took a couple of short blogging breaks during the second and final editing stages of my book. Throughout the design stage, which was fairly technical, I found sanctuary in writing poetry and taking photographs and continuing to blog. As an indie author there’s a lot of work involved in getting a book out there, especially as mine was created to help raise funds for animal rehoming charities. Blogging has kept me grounded in my creativity and connected to a very creative and supportive community. I am very grateful for that. I follow many blogs and for that reason I don’t always have time to read long posts when they first appear. When I have time I visit them later. For me personally it has to be fun to blog and a labour of love. I hope you can connect with what motivated you in the first place and find joy in everything you do 🤗💖 xxx

From following your blog, it is so lovely to see how you combine photography and poetry. You manage to blend the two seamlessly – and parts of your life in it too. You worked so hard for your book and for a good cause, and it sounded very level-headed of you to take a break from blogging to focus on it. Congratulations on the book…and I am sure you will write many more books to come 🙂

Blogging can indeed keep us grounded. For one it reminds us that there are many people and bloggers out there reminding us it takes time and effort to blog and show up and respect each other’s work. I too don’t always read posts when they first come up, preferring to schedule time for them and give others the time they deserve. Stay warm this winter, Xenia 💖💖

I found this post very interesting and informative. There have been times I have had burnout, deleted blogs and later regretted it. I am going to keep all of this in mind any time I feel burned out so I will continue blogging. Having a blog for many years has been very enjoyable for me.

Such an excellent Mabel, thank you for writing this! While of course I love the tangible strategies you share, I most appreciate your vulnerability about how blogging can feel like a chore and how it’s okay to question your commitment to it. I definitely have taken long breaks from it and have had periods where I blog more or less than others, and I feel like it’s important to separate yourself from views and comments and such as much as you can, as you write. Glad this post has gotten such a strong response and it’s been nice to connect via the blogging community, we need more people writing about culture and race and similar topics like you are.

Thanks, Thomas. And thank you for your kind words. Taking a break from blogging can help you feel more excited about it once again, and glad that has worked for you. Distancing yourself from what others are saying can be a good thing – it allows you to listen to your thoughts and recognise how you are feeling and what is important to you.

First: Congratulations to six years of blogging!! 😀 That´s truly amazing!
Second: What an awesome post this is! Wish I had read it when you´ve published it as I was heading into a little burn-out myself during that time and actually took that month-sabbatical in December to recharge my batteries and find new inspiration. Thankfully it worked!! But it was a tough time, especially the coming back part, when you find yourself in front of your computer again and you do want to come back but don´t really know what to write about, or if anybody really cares if you come back etc. etc. Hitting that publish button after 4 weeks of silence felt quite weird then. 😉
As to you question how I handled that burn-out: I kind of buried myself in books! Mainly novels, but some non-fiction too, and simply read, read read… Also I tried out new things, like crocheting amigurumi, which was such fun that I now keep doing it. 😀
Your tips and tricks sound great, and I know I will come back to this article should I feel burned-out again. 😉 Have a lovely weekend!

Sometimes I think I spent too much time on blogging 😀 Good on you for taking a month off last year and recharge, live and get back to blogging. So agree, the coming back part is tough. As you said, coming back to the computer is hard and you don’t know if you have it in you anymore to blog, and there’s always the question do you even want to blog anymore. But I guess checking out your blog, you have published a few posts since you are back and well, all of us are enjoying them 🙂

Crocheting amigurumi! I’m actually about to learn that right now, what a coincidence. Already bought a crocheting kit to start and hope it’s not too hard 😀 Keep having fun with it ❤

I think that too – too much time for blogging and not spending enough for all the other things! 😀 But I actually noticed that when I took some time off in between, it doesn’t really make me more creative, but rather more lazy!! 😀 So, in a way, to blog helps me focus.

And how cool that you are about to learn about crocheting amigurumi!! There are some awesome videos on youtube that can help you at the beginning. It´s really such fun and they make lovely gifts to give away to friends and family too. 🙂 Let me know how your first amigurumi turns out! 🙂 ❤